Friday, December 11,1987/The Battalion/Page 11
Sports
Bowl system gets a ‘C’ at finals time
By Hal L. Hammons
Assistant Sports Editor
So, as we merrily skip along be
tween finals, I’m sure we all have the
same, all-pervasive thought running
through our brains.
No, silly, not _
Analysis
of collegiate
football, of
course. What’s happening, people?
I’m talking about serious incom
petence here. And it’s most evident
in the great old dinosaur we have
mown to know and loathe: the
bowls.
And it shows in the grade-out,
and I grade very leniently. I actually
failed only two of the bunch.
Are you ready? A whopping 76.8
percent (a solid C) for the group of
18. Yes, 18. And that’s after the
Cherry Bowl was dropped for being,
excuse the pun please, the pits.
Space does not allow me to prop
erly analyze each one, more’s the
pity. But let’s take them quickly.
Dec. 12, California Bowl, Fresno,
Calif. — San Jose St. vs. Eastern
Michigan. Grade: D
I’m not kidding. Eastern Michi
gan. The only thing that keeps this
game above passing is, well, passing.
San Jose St. nas the original 50-per-
game pass attack. Unfortunately that
means the game will last longer.
Dec. 19, Independence Bowl,
Shreveport, Louis. — Washington
vs. Tulane. Grade: F
The founding fathers are turning
over in their graves. Where did
Washington place in the Pac-10, one
of the weakest conferences known to
man, fourth? Fifth? T his game died
with Chris Chandler, ex-Heisman
Trophy candidate, at Kyle Field.
Dec. 22, All-American Bowl, Bir
mingham, Ala. — Brigham Young
vs. Virginia. Grade: D
Boy, the viewers are going to flock
to the boob tube for this one, huh?
Maybe there’ll be a “Leave it to Bea
ver” rerun on.
Dec. 25, Sun Bowl, El Paso — Ok
lahoma State vs. West Virginia.
Grade: D
Isn’t Oklahoma State the other
school up there? Orange/black vs.
Yellow/black. Color unnecessary on
this one. At least OSU’s ranked.
Dec. 25, Aloha Bowl, Honolulu,
Ha. — UCLA vs. Florida. Grade: B-
The batde of the could’ve-beens.
The Bruins ought to be in the Rose
Bowl; Florida lost five games to
great opposition. Possibly the most
talent in the pre-1988 games.
Dec. 29, Liberty Bowl, Memphis,
Tenn. — Georgia vs. Arkansas.
Grade: C +
Two boring, second-division
teams pound on each other. Whee.
And what’s with all this patriotic
stuff?
Dec. 30, Holiday Bowl, San
Diego, Calif. — Iowa vs. Wyoming.
Grade: C-
Take heart, it’s almost New Year’s
Day.
Dec. 31, Freedom Bowl, Ana
heim, Calif. — Arizona State vs. Air
Force. Grade: C
Yes, you too can have a mediocre
bowl game in your local suburb.
Dec. 31, Gator Bowl, Jackson
ville, Fla. — South Carolina vs.
Louisiana State. Grade: B +
By far the best one so far. South
Carolina lost to Nebraska and Mi
ami; LSU tied Ohio State and lost to
Alabama on bad days. Good game.
Dec. 31, Bluebonnet Bowl, Hous
ton — Pittsburgh vs. Texas. Grade:
C +
Watch a human battering ram
named Ironhead pound into non
existent Longhorn defensive tackles.
Serves UT right for playing on New
Year’s Eve with five losses.
Jan. 1, Florida Citrus Bowl, Or
lando, Fla. — Penn State vs. Clem-
son. Grade: C-
Battle of the over-rateds. Most
had Clemson contending for the na
tional championship — they couldn’t
even pull it off with eight games at
home. Penn State is just bad, and
we’re not talking Michael Jackson
here.
Jan. 1, Fiesta Bowl, Tempe, Ariz.
— Florida State vs. Nebraska.
Grade: A
Now we’re talking footballl The
Huskers beat UCLA, Arizona State
and South Carolina before finally
losing to Oklahoma. The Seminoles
lost by a heartbeat to Miami, and you
can’t convince me they aren’t the
best team in the country.
Jan. 1, Cotton Bowl, Dallas —
Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M.
Grade: B
Are you going to try to tell me
people are going to watch this in
stead of the Fiesta Bowl? Too bad —
oughta be a good one if you like de
fense. Tim Brown notwithstanding,
20 points probably will win the
game. (Insider scoop: take the Ag
gies.)
Jan. 1, Sugar Bowl, New Orleans,
La.— Auburn vs. Syracuse. Grade:
B +
People will Finally figure out what
the Orangemen (what a name —•
yuck!) have. Auburn’s a lot better
than I gave them credit for a few
weeks ago.
Jan. 1, Rose Bowl, Pasadena,
Calif. — Southern California vs.
Michigan State. Grade: B-
The Granddaddy draws the weak
one of the New-Year’s-Day bunch, as
usual. State’s one-dimensional, but
that’s more dimensions than USC
has. How they beat UCLA is any
body’s guess.
Jan. 1, Orange Bowl, Miami, Fla.
— Oklahoma vs. Miami (Fla.).
Grade: A +
Give me a break. Just how perfect
can a game get? A recreation of the
1986 Orange Bowl. The revenge-
minded lunatics of Oklahoma. The
conceit-crazed apes of Miami. An il
legal-jobs scanaal in Soonerville.
Three championship games in a row
for the Hurricanes. Unstoppable of
fense vs. unbreakable defense.
Other unstoppable offense vs. other
unbreakable defense. An undis
puted national championship. And
on and on and on. .. .
Jan. 2, Hall of Fame Classic,
Tampa, Fla. — Alabama vs. Michi
gan. Grade: C +
Jan. 2, Peach Bowl, Atlanta, Ga.
— Tennessee vs. Indiana. Grade: C
Take these together as games un
fortunate enough to be played while
everybody reads the paper about
The Big Game and all the ones they
missed while watching other ones.
Not bad matchups, but poor timing,
fellas.
A&M hoopsters back in action against SFA
The Texas A&M basketball team
will be back in action Sunday af
ternoon at G. Rollie White Coliseum
against Stephen F. Austin State.
A&M Head Coach Shelby Metcalf
said, “We wanted to give the kids a
study break with the 2 p.m. starting
time. You need a relaxed body for
an alert mind.”
This will be the second time the
two teams have met this year. In the
first round of the Jowers Jamboree
Dec. 4 in San Marcos, A&M defeat-
edthe Lumberjacks 72-67.
A&M, 4-2 so far this year, has sur
prised many with their strong shoot
ing this season. The Aggies lead the
Southwest Conference with a 53.4
percent average from the field.
Their 55.2 percent average from the
three-point area also leads the con
ference.
SFA lives and dies by the three-
point stripe. Guards Scott Dimak
and Eric Rhodes ranked second and
fourth, respectively, last year in
three-point shooting.
As of Tuesday, A&M’s Darryl Mc
Donald was leading the conference
in scoring with an average of 19.8
points pier game.
Tipoff for the game is scheduled
for 2 p.m.
Smart money on A&M
to beat hefty spread
By Hal L. Hammons
Assistant Sports Editor
I’m not a betting kind of guy.
But if I was, I wouldn’t let the line
drop any low^p^on the Cotton
Bowl.
I saw
opening
ith
lines with Opinion
Notre Dame
as eight-
point favorites over Texas A&M.
It’s not by accident that it’s
dropped to less than six.
People in the know realize
A&M isn’t eight points weaker
than Notre Dame. They aren’t six
points weaker, either, and the
line probably is going to drop
some more to show that.
The straight fact of the matter
is that A&M will very likely win
the game, and the Aggies cer
tainly are going to keep tne game
close. Note:
• The Irish are on a down
note. Their last two games, both
losses, destroyed their already-
bleak hope for a national
championship, and the Cotton
Bowl and A&M look a lot less in
viting and intimidating than the
Orange Bowl and Oklahoma.
• Tim Brown did not deserve
the Heisman Trophy, no matter
how weak the competition was.
He’s had two atrocious games in a
row against Penn State and Mi
ami, and he’s coming off a shoul
der injury he got diving for a ball.
• Jackie Sherrill isn’t going to
let Tim Brown take a punt or
kickoff back for a touchdown.
The Aggies faced a similar threat
in Eric Metcalf in the Texas
game. Craig Stump just didn’t
punt it to him, and all of the Ag
gie kickoffs were grounders.
• The Cotton Bowl/Heisman
Trophy Jinx. Trophy winners
don’t do well in post-season, and
the Cotton Bowl is especially no
torious. Witness mediocre show
ings by Bo Jackson, Doug Flutie
and Earl Campbell in their fare
well performances.
• Despite having a Heisman
Trophy flanker, the Irish have no
passing game. Remember what
happened to Arkansas when they
brought a running attack alone —
one much more potent than
Notre Dame’s — into Kyle Field.
• The Aggie defense is incred
ible. It’s even tougher against the
run.
• The only time Notre Dame
has faced a defense as good as
A&M’s —at Miami — they did not
score.
• The weakness of the Aggie
defense — overpursuit — is no
secret. A&M will be working on
misdirection plays constandy un
til New Year’s Day. Remember:
Texas and Metcalf were the pier-
feet combination to exploit the
weakness, and they couldn’t do it.
• Craig Stump probably will
start at quarterback for A&M. ;
Yes, Aggies, that’s good. He-
proved against Texas Christian
that he can pass effectively some
times. The impiortant thing is that
he will pass, opening up the rush
ing lanes for Keith Woodside,
Matt Gurley and Darren Lewis. If
the offense stagnates, Bucky
Richardson will be more than ca
pable of coming off the bench to
save the day, much like in the
Texas game.
• Notre Dame won’t score
many more than 20 points against
John Ropier and the Aggie de
fense. A&M’s offense, working
against an average-at-best Irish
defense, ought to be able to sup
ply that much.
• The Cotton Bowl crowd will
not exaedy be non-partisan. The
Aggie alumni and students
should outnumber the Irish, and .
all of the local fans will
Not only
Aggies in the-
Dallas area, there is, . . . well, let’s
face it: a significant degree of ha
tred in Texas directed toward
South Bend, Ind., due in part,
like it or not, to an anti-Catnolic
sentiment that does exist in this
state. Many Texans have two fa
vorite teams: their own and the
team playing Notre Dame. That
should put a few more Aggie sup-
pjorters in the seats.
Aggies. I
are there a lot of Aereu
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pELEBRATE
W,nn ing Tradition!
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eguiar Price
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(409) 845-4081
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